GRASSES OF OHIO 
285 
flowering glumes; lemma broad, coriaceous and shining, 3-nerved; 
palet firm, 2-keeled; stamens 2, rarely 1 ; grain beaked, free. 
1. Korycarpus arundinaceus Zea. American Korycarpus. A 
grass with simple erect stems, very rough below the panicle, 1^-4 
ft. high, and with very simple panicles. Spikelets short-pediceled, 
3- 5-flowered, erect; lemma somewhat abruptly acuminate. 
In rich woods and shaded river banks. July-September. Ross, 
Franklin, Auglaize, Highland. 
11. Tridens R. & S. Purple-top. 
Perennial grasses with long leaves and terminal open or con¬ 
tracted panicles. Spikelets 3-many-flowered; empty glumes un¬ 
equal, keeled, shorter than the spikelet; lemma 3-nerved, bidentate, 
the nerves silky-villous below; palet broad, compressed, 2-keeled. 
1. Tridens flava (L.) Hitch. Tall Purple-top. A grass with 
erect stems, viscid on the axis of the panicle and below it, 2-5 ft. 
high, with the leaf-sheaths bearded at the summit, and with showy 
loose and open panicles with slender spreading branches. Spikelets 
4- 8-flowered, purple, on long pedicels; lemma oval, the three nerves 
pilose and excurrent as short points. Many small insects are caught 
by the vicid panicle. 
In dry and especially sandy fields and waste places. July-Sep¬ 
tember. Rather general; no specimens from the northwestern 
counties nor the extreme eastern part. 
12. Tnplasis Beauv. Sand-grass. 
Perennials with small, nearly simple, contracted or open panicles. 
Spikelets 3-6-flowered, rachilla articulated between the remote 
flowers; empty glumes keeled; lemma short-awned, 2-cleft, with 
3 strongly ciliate nerves; palet 2-keeled, the keels long ciliate; grain 
free. 
1. Triplasis purpurea (Walt.) Chapm. Purple Sand-grass. A 
tufted grass with widely spreading or ascending stems, 1-3 ft. long, 
with short internodes, short convolute leaf blades, the uppermost 
minute, and with a small terminal panicle composed of a few rigid 
branches which are finally divergent. Smaller panicles produced 
later in the season at the nodes of the stem. Spikelets 2-5-flowered, 
usually rose-purple; lemma with a short awn scarcely exceeding its 
truncate lobes; palet with abundant long hairs on the two nerves. 
Plant acid to the taste. 
In sandy soil, especially on sea beaches. August, September. 
Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie. 
